College Cheerleaders Sues School After It Stopped Her National Anthem Protests

A former college cheerleader is now claiming “racism” and suing her college and several local government officials after she was prevented from protesting during the playing of the national anthem.

Last year a group of five black cheerleaders for the Kennesaw State University football team began taking a knee in protest against the country during the national anthem at the school’s games. Immediately the community was up in arms about the disrespectful action. In short order two local officials, Cob County Sheriff Neil Warren and state representative Earl Ehrhart, began pressuring college president Sam Olens to put a stop to the protests.

The college president soon made a new rule stating that cheer squads were not allowed to take the field until after the anthem played at all sporting events. Naturally, the five girls — who had been dubbed the Kennesaw Five by this point — began screaming raaaaacism.

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The president then reversed his decision. Then he resigned because he had made everyone unhappy.

There is no indication, yet, if the problem may resurface this year, but just ahead of the 2018 school year, Kennesaw cut four of the five cheerleaders who protested last year.

“Similar to all KSU sports teams, multi-year spots on rosters are not guaranteed, and all student-athletes must earn their position on a team,” a letter from the KSU athletic department explained according to the school’s paper.

So, it remains to be seen to the remaining member of the “Kennesaw Five” will try to continue her protest or if new cheerleaders will join her.

But whatever happens on the field, we already know that one of the cheerleaders is taking the school to court claiming raaaacism.

Tommia Dean, now a sophomore, filed her lawsuit on Wednesday claiming that local officials and school administrators “colluded” against the five women dubbed “the Kennesaw Five” by ruling that cheerleaders could not take the field until after the anthem is played, according to WSB-TV.

Dean named Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren and Republican state Rep. Earl Ehrhart in her suit saying that they interfered in the situation after the five cheerleaders first began their protests at the start of the 2017 football season.

Also named in the lawsuit is former KSU president Sam Olens who made the rule preventing cheer teams from taking the field until after the anthem was over. Olens later resigned after taking criticism from both sides of the kneeling issue. The lawsuit also names KSU athletic department officials Matt Griffin and Scott Whitlock.

The lawsuit claims that Dean faced racial discrimination at the hands of the officials and the school administrators. Dean is black, and those she accuses are white.

In fact, there is no clear case of racial discrimination, here. No one ever mentioned race at all during last year’s controversy. So, it would make sense if this nonsense was thrown out of court. But, we’ll see what happens.

About the author

Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston has been writing editorials and news since 2001 but started his writing career penning articles about U.S. history back in the early 1990s. Huston has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and several local Chicago News programs to discuss the issues of the day. Additionally, he is a regular guest on radio programs from coast to coast. Huston has also been a Breitbart News contributor since 2009. Warner works out of the Chicago area, a place he calls a "target rich environment" for political news.

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